1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of vending machines and, more particularly, to a product positioning mechanism used to adjust a product queue to a width of a particular product container in order to properly position the product container in the product queue.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Vending machines are widely used to store and dispense a large variety of products, such as beverages and other prepackaged articles. Typically, a vending machine includes a plurality of columns or shelves for holding products in escrow until a vending operation is initiated. In vending machines that utilize shelves, the product is typically supported upon a surface having a gradual slope that guides the product toward a release mechanism. The release mechanism is employed to direct the product toward a dispensing portion of the machine. Most vending machines arrange the products in discrete product queues, with each of the product queues being provided with an associated release mechanism. In order for the release mechanism to properly dispense products without becoming jammed or otherwise failing to dispense a selected product, the products must be properly aligned in the product queue.
Product containers come in a wide array of sizes and shapes. If a fixed alignment mechanism is employed, a given vending machine could only be used with particularly sized product containers. In recognition of this problem, vending machines are typically provided with various types of spacing units or shims in order to enable different sized product containers to be accommodated in a given queue. Depending upon the size of a given product container, shims can be added, removed or otherwise positioned to achieve a desired alignment. Although effective, modifying each product queue to accommodate a particular product line or altering the product queue in order to dispense different products can be both tedious and time consuming.
An example of another arrangement can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,677 which discloses an apparatus and method for vending products in a vending machine. The vending machine includes a number of trays for supporting products to be dispensed. In order to align the products in one of the trays, a removable wall member, having a longitudinally projecting rib, is positioned on a side wall of the tray. Depending on the size of the rib, the tray can be effectively used to dispense a particularly sized product container. However, with this arrangement, the wide array of product container sizes available in today's market mandates that a corresponding wide variety of rails be available. Moreover, as product containers change over time, the need arises to store, retain and develop different sized rails to accommodate new containers.
Therefore, despite the existence of spacing and alignment mechanisms in the prior art, there still exists a need for a substantially universal product alignment mechanism for a vending machine. More specifically, there exists a need for a product alignment mechanism that can automatically adjust to accommodate product containers of various widths.